Deadly police shootings in Oxnard and Simi Valley found justified

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday that two police shootings it investigated – one in 2022, the other in 2023 – were justified uses of deadly force and would not be prosecuted.

The first incident was the fatal shooting of Derrick Padilla by Simi Valley police in 2022. Padilla was a suspect in his wife’s murder and was killed in a gun battle with police officers, according to the prosecutor’s report on the case.

The second incident was the shooting of Adam Barcenas by Oxnard police in 2023. Officers had stopped a suspected drunk driver in an unrelated incident when Barcenas approached them with a 5-foot metal pole. The district attorney’s report concluded that Barcenas was running toward an officer with the pole raised when the officer fatally shot him.

In each case, police initially investigated the shooting with help from District Attorney Erik Nasarenko’s office. Prosecutors then analyzed the evidence, including body camera video, to determine whether the shooting was justified or could lead to charges against the officers. Nasarenko’s office’s determination that each killing was committed in lawful self-defense ends both investigations.

Every deadly use of force by a police officer triggers numerous investigations, including a review by the prosecutor’s office, which is solely concerned with whether the officer’s actions were legally justified.

Simi Valley police fatally shoot Derrick Padilla

Padilla, 29, was the subject of a manhunt when he showed up in Simi Valley on April 28, 2022. The night before, police had found his wife, Monique Ayala, shot to death in their Los Angeles home and identified Padilla as the prime suspect, according to the district attorney’s report on his death. Shortly after the LA shooting, Padilla ambushed his sister’s car and stole her BMW at gunpoint.

The next morning, Simi Valley police found the car abandoned on Royal Avenue. When they were told it had been stolen by a murder suspect who was considered armed and very dangerous, all officers on duty began searching for Padilla.

At about 5 p.m. that day, Padilla entered a 7-Eleven in Simi Valley and borrowed the clerk’s phone to call his father. Padilla told his father that this would likely be the last time they would speak to each other. His father reported the call to a Los Angeles police officer, who alerted Simi Valley police.

At 8 p.m., Simi Valley Officer David Maupin thought he saw Padilla near a car wash on East Los Angeles Avenue, about a mile and a half from the 7-Eleven. He called for backup. When a second officer arrived, Maupin stopped to flag down Padilla.

What happened next was recorded by a surveillance camera in the car wash as well as the body cameras of several police officers. The footage is described in detail in the prosecutor’s report. Investigators also interviewed five police officers and a bystander, all of whom were at the crime scene.

Maupin got out of his car, drew his gun and ordered Padilla to lie on the ground. Padilla did not obey and instead raised his hands in a gesture Maupin described as “challenging.”

At about this time, Officer Daniel Stradling pulled up to the curb. As he was getting his rifle out of the car, he saw Padilla point a silver pistol at Maupin.

Maupin and Padilla also fired, each of them firing several shots.

Padilla ran away across the car wash parking lot, still firing back at the two officers with his .357 Magnum revolver, hitting both cars. Stradling fired three shots from his rifle at Padilla, hitting him at least once. Padilla, now on the ground, raised his gun again and Stradling fired three more shots.

Padilla stopped moving and was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency personnel shortly afterward. About 15 seconds passed between Maupin’s first attempt to stop Padilla and Stradling’s final shots, the report said.

Padilla was shot five times. None of the officers were hit. Four of the bullet fragments recovered from Padilla’s body during the autopsy matched those fired by Stradling’s .223-caliber Remington rifle. The fifth bullet fragment did not have enough detail to determine if it came from Maupin’s pistol or Stradling’s rifle.

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Dunlevy reviewed the case for Nasarenko’s office and concluded that Padilla’s death was justifiable homicide, not a crime. Both Stradling and Maupin “did not use more force than was reasonably necessary” to defend themselves, and their use of deadly force was justified, the report said.

Fatal shooting of Adam Barcenas by Oxnard police

At around 5 a.m. on March 12, 2023, Oxnard Police Department Officer Shayn Schwartz stopped a suspected drunk driver in downtown Oxnard at the corner of Fourth and A Streets, according to the district attorney’s report. Since the driver spoke Spanish and Schwartz did not, two other officers soon arrived to assist.

About an hour later, drivers and police officers were standing on the side of the road when a man ran toward them, yelling “damn pigs” and “I hate pigs,” the prosecutor’s report said. He was holding a 5-foot-long metal pole “like a baseball bat” over his shoulder, the report said.

The man was later identified as Barcenas. The 60-year-old, described by police as homeless, had been released from state prison six months earlier after serving just over three years for aggravated elder abuse.

In 2019, Barcenas randomly attacked two people on the same day in downtown Oxnard: a 71-year-old woman and an 80-year-old man. The woman, whom Barcenas punched in the head and kicked while she was on the ground, initially appeared to have suffered only minor injuries, but died a few days later.

As Barcenas approached officers with the baton raised, one officer drew her Taser and the other two drew their weapons. All told him to “put the weapon down.” Barcenas swung at one officer and then charged Schwartz, “with the baton over his shoulder in a ready-to-strike position,” the prosecutor’s report said.

Schwartz fired four shots from his Sig Sauer 9mm pistol, hitting Barcenas with three of them. Barcenas was conscious when police and paramedics rendered aid to him, but his condition soon deteriorated and he died at Ventura County Medical Center.

In an interview with investigators, the passenger in the stopped car said it appeared Barcenas was about 2 feet away from Schwartz when he fired his final shots and was “moving his body in a swinging motion,” according to the report. Another witness said he heard Barcenas scream “I’m going to kill you” as he ran toward officers.

Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Leija reviewed the case and concluded that Schwartz “did not use more force than was necessary to defend himself against the obvious danger posed by Barcenas” and found that the defendant’s death was justified.

Tony Biasotti is an investigative reporter and observer for the Ventura County Star. You can reach him at [email protected]This story was made possible by a donation from the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Local Journalism Fund.

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